whistl

v. t. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To form, utter, or modulate by whistling; as, to whistle a tune or an air. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To send, signal, or call by a whistle. [ 1913 Webster ]

He chanced to miss his dog; we stood still till he had whistled him up. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

To whistle off. (a) To dismiss by a whistle; -- a term in hawking. “AS a long-winged hawk when he is first whistled off the fist, mounts aloft.” Burton. (b) Hence, in general, to turn loose; to abandon; to dismiss. [ 1913 Webster ]

I 'ld whistle her off, and let her down the wind
To prey at fortune. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ “A hawk seems to have been usually sent off in this way, against the wind when sent in search of prey; with or down the wind, when turned loose, and abandoned.” Nares. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. hwistle a pipe, flute, whistle. See Whistle, v. i. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A sharp, shrill, more or less musical sound, made by forcing the breath through a small orifice of the lips, or through or instrument which gives a similar sound; the sound used by a sportsman in calling his dogs; the shrill note of a bird; as, the sharp whistle of a boy, or of a boatswain's pipe; the blackbird's mellow whistle. [ 1913 Webster ]

Might we but hear
The folded flocks, penned in their wattled cotes, . . .
Or whistle from the lodge. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

The countryman could not forbear smiling, . . . and by that means lost his whistle. Spectator. [ 1913 Webster ]

They fear his whistle, and forsake the seas. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The shrill sound made by wind passing among trees or through crevices, or that made by bullet, or the like, passing rapidly through the air; the shrill noise (much used as a signal, etc.) made by steam or gas escaping through a small orifice, or impinging against the edge of a metallic bell or cup. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An instrument in which gas or steam forced into a cavity, or against a thin edge, produces a sound more or less like that made by one who whistles through the compressed lips; as, a child's whistle; a boatswain's whistle; a steam whistle (see Steam whistle, under Steam). [ 1913 Webster ]

The bells she jingled, and the whistle blew. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The mouth and throat; -- so called as being the organs of whistling. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

So was her jolly whistle well ywet. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let's drink the other cup to wet our whistles. Walton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whistle duck (Zool.), the American golden-eye. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A gossat, or rockling; -- called also whistler, three-bearded rockling, sea loach, and sorghe. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. hwistlere. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. One who, or that which, whistles, or produces or a whistling sound. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) (a) The ring ousel. (b) The widgeon. [ Prov. Eng. ] (c) The golden-eye. (d) The golden plover and the gray plover. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) The hoary, or northern, marmot (Arctomys pruinosus). [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Zool.) The whistlefish. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The American golden-eye. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) The moosewood, or striped maple. See Maple. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. & n. from Whistle, v. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whistling buoy. (Naut.) See under Buoy. --
Whistling coot (Zool.), the American black scoter. --
Whistling Dick. (Zool.) (a) An Australian shrike thrush (Colluricincla Selbii). (b) The song thrush. [ Prov. Eng. ] --
Whistling duck. (Zool.) (a) The golden-eye. (b) A tree duck. --
Whistling eagle (Zool.), a small Australian eagle (Haliastur sphenurus); -- called also whistling hawk, and little swamp eagle. --
Whistling plover. (Zool.) (a) The golden plover. (b) The black-bellied, or gray, plover. --
Whistling snipe (Zool.), the American woodcock. --
Whistling swan. (Zool.) (a) The European whooper swan; -- called also wild swan, and elk. (b) An American swan (Olor columbianus). See under Swan. --
Whistling teal (Zool.), a tree duck, as Dendrocygna awsuree of India. --
Whistling thrush. (Zool.) (a) Any one of several species of singing birds of the genus Myiophonus, native of Asia, Australia, and the East Indies. They are generally black, glossed with blue, and have a patch of bright blue on each shoulder. Their note is a loud and clear whistle. (b) The song thrush. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a whistling manner; shrilly. [ 1913 Webster ]